The directory in Linux can be confusing for new users of Linux. Most distributions have the same general structure of the base directory system. Excerpt from Linux-newbie - http://linux-newbie.sunsite.dk/lnag_basics.html Short Description of the file structure of Linux Filesystems Description root "/" basic operating system and maintenance tools. The content of this filesystem should be sufficient to start up the system and perform emergency maintenance and repairs if they were necessary.   The parts of the root filesystem are: /bin --executables (binaries) needed during bootup that might be used by normal users. /sbin --executables (system binaries) not intended for use by general users (users may still use them, but this directory is not on their PATH). /etc --system-wide configuration files for your operating system. /root --the home directory of the system administrator (called super-user or root). /dev --device files. Devices appear on Linux as files so that hardware is abstracted and it is easy to write to them or read from them. /mnt --mount points for removable media (floppy, cdrom, zipdrive), partitions of other operating systems (e.g. MS Windows), network shares, and anything else that is mounted on the file system temporarily. It normally contains a separate subdirectory for each mounting share. The contents of these drives/shares appear in these subdirectories--there are no drive letters on Linux. /lib --shared libraries for programs that reside on the root filesystem and kernel modules. /boot --files used by the bootstrap loader (LILO or GRUB), the thing that loads first when the computer is booted and perhaps gives you the option of which operating system to boot, if you have more than one OS on your computer). It typically also contains the Linux kernel (compressed, file vmlinuz), but this can be stored somewhere else, only if LILO/GRUB is configured to know where it is. /opt --optional large applications, for example kde under RedHat 5.2 (under RedHat 6.0, kde is distributed as any other X-windows distribution, main executables are in the /usr/bin directory). /tmp --temporary files. This directory may clean up automatically. /lost+found --files recovered during the filesystem repair. /usr All commands, libraries, documentation, and other files that do not change during normal operation. This will also contain major applications that come with your Linux distribution, for example Netscape. /var Files that change: spool directories, log files, lock files, temporary files, and formatted (on use) manual pages. /home User files (users' own settings, customization files, documents, data, mail, caches, etc). The contents of this directory should be preserved on an operating system upgrade. /proc Entirely illusionary files. They do not really exist on the disk and do not take up any space there (although ls -l will show their size). When viewing them, you really access information stored in the memory. It is used to access information about the system.